Dave Roberts

“Dave Roberts is a novice manager, but he seems born to the task,” longtime San Francisco sportswriter Bruce Jenkins wrote about the offseason Dodgers hire in mid-2016. “He took a disjointed clubhouse and made it whole, instilling a good-times brand of confidence and telling SI.com, ‘I put my hand on each player every single day – literally.’”1

Roberts was named NL Manager of the Year three months later, guided LA in 2017 to their first World Series since 1988, and won the 2020 World Series with them. Roberts apparently can be quite the spark, given that he is revered by Red Sox fans for a stolen base in 2004 that was crucial to the least likely postseason comeback ever. As an unusual indication of how memorable his stimulus for Boston was, more than a decade later general manager Daryl Morey of the NBA’s Houston Rockets posted a video of Roberts’ theft on social media as those basketballers also faced a deep playoff deficit.2

David Ray Roberts was born on May 31, 1972, in the city of Naha on the Japanese island of Okinawa to Eiko Ikehara and Waymon Dewitt Roberts. His mother was born in Japan on August 25, 1948, four days after his father was born in Liberty, Texas. Waymon Roberts was stationed at Okinawa during a long career in the United States Marines, during which he reached the rank of master gunnery sergeant.3

Dave’s sister, Melissa, was born in California in the summer of 1973.4 During their childhood the family moved from one military base to another a considerable distance away. The family’s first move was from Okinawa to California, and they had later stints in North Carolina and Hawaii before finally settling in the San Diego area in 1984.5

Dave Roberts received periodic attention on local sports pages while attending Washington Middle School in Vista,6 which is in San Diego County about 40 miles north of San Diego. His earliest mentions by sportswriters, as both Dave and David, might have been during the winter of 1984-1985 while playing in the Vista Parks & Recreation Junior Basketball Association with a team called the Traveling Panthers (or vice versa).7 Not much later, David Roberts of Washington Middle School won the 100-meter race among boys born in 1972 during the Vista City Track Meet held on April 13.8 Three more months later, Roberts was a member of the Vista Pony League “13-year-old All-Stars” as they won a district championship and competed in sectionals.9

On May 3, 1986, David Roberts again won a 100-meter dash among boys born in 1972, with a time of 12.06 seconds. This time the event was the San Diego County Track and Field Championships. Meanwhile, Melissa Roberts placed fourth among girls born in 1973.10 About four years later, she was on their high-school track team as a short sprinter.11

In June 1986 Dave Roberts was instrumental in his Sport About team’s Pony League championship finale, with a home run and a save in relief.12 That fall he was a freshman at Vista High School. In a lengthy 1989 interview for the San Diego Tribune, about midway through his senior year of high school, Roberts said he was promoted to Vista’s varsity football team as a freshman but couldn’t play because he was only 15 years old. “I told Coach [Dick] Haines it would be a good idea if I didn’t suit up,” Roberts recalled. “I didn’t want to just stand there and do nothing. So I sat up in the stands. I knew I had three more years.”13 In the spring of 1987 he played baseball for Vista High as a freshman, and was named the Most Valuable Player of the junior varsity team, which won 19 out of 22 games.14

For his sophomore year, Roberts switched to the brand-new Rancho Buena Vista High School. A Los Angeles Times sportswriter in an article on the difficulties of launching an athletic program at such a new institution, quoted the varsity football team’s sophomore quarterback. “It’s a challenge. We’re the underdogs. We want to take advantage of that,” Roberts said. “We want to be ourselves. We want to build our own tradition.”15 Soon enough, Roberts was doing his utmost to build those traditions as a basketball player16 and then as a baseball player as well. No RBV baseball player was named to the Avocado League’s First Team after the 1988 season and only one was named to the Second Team, but Roberts was one of two teammates to receive Honorable Mention.17

As the Longhorns prepared for the 1988 football season, Roberts suffered a knee injury in spring practice so serious that it was known well in advance of the regular season that he wouldn’t play at all. Coach Craig Bell described the uncommon characteristic he hoped for in a replacement for Roberts at that time. “A bomb could go off beside him and he’d just smile and go on,” said Bell. “That kind of leadership is invaluable on the field, especially from a quarterback.”18 That positive, unflappable attitude was likely important during Roberts’ very gradual recovery, because at some point he was told by at least one doctor that he’d never play any sports again.19

Roberts’ injury was to his right knee’s anterior cruciate ligament and required major reconstructive knee surgery. He stood with his teammates during games, wearing a cast that encased his leg from thigh to ankle. When Roberts returned to the team as a senior, Bell’s praise shifted from his quarterback’s poise as a sophomore to his intelligence. “He’s like having another coach on the field,” Bell said, which now seems like foreshadowing. “He makes life easy for me. If he were a coach, I’d probably be out of a job.”20

It was estimated that Roberts played most of the football season of his senior year at 85 percent of his capability, but the Longhorns won the California Interscholastic Federation Division I title, setting a record for total yards of offense in the process. “David was the single biggest reason we won the CIF title,” said Bell. “He wouldn’t allow the team to lose. He drove that team every hour, every minute, every day of the season.”21

Roberts lettered in football, basketball, and baseball at Rancho Buena Vista.22 His high-school baseball career ended on a personal high note in mid-1990 when he was the only RBV player named to the CIF All-Section team.23 Still, because his severe knee injury also caused him to miss his junior year of baseball, his chance to be recruited by colleges had been undercut considerably. As it was, his only offer for collegiate football came from the Air Force Academy. Though football was his first love, he reasoned that baseball was the more promising option after high school. He was a walk-on at UCLA and became a scholarship recipient his sophomore year there.24

Roberts was named to the All-Pac-10 Team in 1992 and 1994, and lettered each season from 1991 through 1994.25 By the time he graduated in 1995, he’d set a university record for most stolen bases. That resulted in large part from setting a record for stolen bases as a senior. When he left UCLA, he ranked second all-time in runs scored, third in triples, fifth in hits, and fifth in walks. He earned a degree in history; he also developed a shoulder so sore that it required surgery.26

Through mid-1994, Roberts considered his greatest thrill in baseball to have occurred in 1992, which was playing in an NCAA regional championship game in Starkville, Mississippi, on the cusp of the College World Series.27 The game was played on May 24, the same day UCLA eliminated Mississippi State. Though UCLA was shut out by Oklahoma, Roberts led off and had two hits in four at-bats.28

Roberts was selected in baseball’s June 1993 amateur draft by the Cleveland Indians, though not until the 47th round.29 His UCLA coach, Gary Adams, said Roberts seemed acutely aware that seven of his UCLA teammates who were also juniors were drafted much higher. “He came into my office after the draft was held feeling really down in the dumps,” Adams recalled. “I didn’t see him that way really often.” Roberts, who decided not to sign with Cleveland, quickly requested advice from Adams on how to get drafted higher the next year, and Adams theorized that scouts were looking for stronger throws from an outfielder. Adams and fellow coaches Don Tamburro and Vince Beringhele helped Roberts with that the following season, and Roberts led UCLA outfielders in assists.30 All that effort did come at a cost. “I wasn’t used to all that throwing,” Roberts said, because he’d mostly been a designated hitter during his first three seasons at UCLA. “So I hurt my shoulder, and it required surgery.”31

Nevertheless, the Detroit Tigers selected Roberts in the 28th round of the June 1994 draft, and he accepted a bonus of $1,000.32 He also secured a guarantee from Detroit that the club would help finance the remainder of his undergraduate education.33 Roberts signed his first pro contract on June 9, 1994. Dennis Lieberthal was the scout who arranged that.34

Roberts was assigned to the Jamestown Jammers of the Class-A New York-Penn League. The club began its season on June 16,35 but when Roberts signed, he informed the Tigers that he wouldn’t report to Jamestown until he was done at UCLA that semester, and thus his arrival was delayed about two weeks. It took another week for him to crack the starting lineup.36 His name didn’t appear in Jamestown stats printed by the Detroit Free Press on June 29, which covered their New York affiliate’s first 10 games.37

Roberts made his professional debut on June 28, 1994, in Jamestown. In hindsight decades later, it was fitting that he took part only as a pinch-runner. He didn’t steal a base off the Welland Pirates, but did score a run in what turned out to be a 17-inning marathon, won by Jamestown, 8-7.38 Jamestown’s scheduled game the next day was rained out, so his next chance to play was in a doubleheader on June 30.39 He led off the first game as the DH and went 0-for-4.40 After the team’s first 22 games, Roberts was just 6-for-34 (.176).41 He overcame this very slow start to hit .292 by the end of the short 1994 season.

For the remainder of the decade, Roberts advanced steadily toward the majors. After hitting .303 in 1995, he reached Double-A partway into 1996, the first of several seasons he split at two different levels. His combined total of stolen bases for 1996 was 65, which led minor leaguers at all levels.42

Roberts played a full season at Double A in 1997 and had a .296 batting average. On November 8 of that year, he married his high-school sweetheart, Tricia Schempp. Their relationship dated back to the spring of 1988, around the time he suffered the serious knee injury that cost him his junior season of football.43

On June 24, 1998, Roberts was involved in a trade for the first time, when Detroit packaged him and pitcher Tim Worrell to Cleveland in exchange for outfielder/DH Geronimo Berroa.44 He hit .326 at Double-A Jacksonville before the trade, and hit .361 for Double-A Akron afterward. He tied an Akron record with a 22-game hitting streak.45 He also played his first Triple-A ball in 1998, for Cleveland’s affiliate in Buffalo, though he played in just five games.

In mid-1999, Roberts had a big thrill when he was named to Team USA for that summer’s Pan Am Games.46 His manager at Buffalo, Jeff Datz, advised him that missing up to three weeks of high-level pro ball in favor of amateur competition might have a negative effect after his return, but Roberts was eager to take that risk. “I figured you have a limited chance to play for your country so you might as well take it,” he said. His father’s time in the Marine Corps was also a motivation. “He represented this country for three decades; the least I could do was two weeks.”47 Roberts helped Team USA earn a spot in the 2000 Olympics by hitting .308 in the leadoff spot and swiping four bases. “It was incredible – the best experience of my life,” Roberts declared. He then returned to Buffalo for just two games before even more exciting news: Cleveland had called him up to the majors to sub for injured superstar Kenny Lofton.48

Roberts made his major-league debut with the Indians on August 7, 1999, in Tampa Bay. He was put atop Cleveland’s batting order and assigned to patrol center field. More than 38,000 fans watched him thrive beginning in the second inning. To begin the game, he grounded out to pitcher Bobby Witt after a first-pitch strike, but in the next inning he worked the count to 3-and-1. He then lined a two-out double toward the left power alley for his first hit in the majors, though the following batter’s out left him there. All told, Roberts went 3-for-5 with a walk, a stolen base, and three runs scored as his team won a 15-10 slugfest. Regardless, the game was of considerable historical significance because Wade Boggs homered with his hometown team for the 3,000th hit of his Hall of Fame career.49

Roberts hit his first home run in the majors at home on August 30, against Anaheim. He was in the leadoff spot and went 3-for-4 with four runs scored. The homer was off Ramon Ortiz in the second inning, with two outs and two men on base.

He stayed with Cleveland for the remainder of the regular season, and in 41 games had a .238 batting average. He capped his rookie season by appearing in two American League Divisional Series games against the Red Sox; he was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Roberts also spent some time the next two seasons with Cleveland, but the 41 games he played for them in 1999 were his maximum.

Dave and Tricia’s life together took a new turn shortly after the 2000 season, when their first child was born on October 9, son Cole. He ultimately graduated from Santa Fe Christian School in Solana Beach, California. In June of 2019, Cole was chosen by the San Diego Padres in the 38th round of the amateur draft and as of the summer of 2023 was still listed on the roster of LA’s Loyola Marymount University.50

On December 22, 2001, Cleveland traded Roberts to the Dodgers for minor-league pitchers Christian Bridenbaugh and Nial Hughes. Roberts had expected Cleveland to offload him that offseason. “I didn’t know where I might end up, but it couldn’t have worked out any better than it did,” he said. “Cleveland is a great organization, but the opportunities there were hard to come by.”51

Roberts’ optimism was rewarded. He became a regular as he was turning 30, and continued as a starter the following five seasons, playing a minimum of 107 games in each from 2002 through 2007. Over those six years his 226 stolen bases ranked fourth among all major leaguers.52

In 2002 Roberts played in 127 games for the Dodgers, almost exclusively in center field, and had a solid .277 batting average. He reached base by hit or walk in 80 percent of his games. Some statistician took the time to determine that Roberts, Vladimir Guerrero, and Luis Castillo were the only three major leaguers that season to pair at least 40 walks with 40 or more stolen bases.53

Roberts’ 2003 season represented a step backward, with a .250 batting average in 20 fewer games, but the hamstring soreness that contributed to that didn’t prevent him from stealing 40 bases again. Only two other National League players stole that many.54 It was business as usual for him with the Dodgers into the 2004 season, though better in at least one way: Through July, he’d swiped 33 bases and was caught stealing only once.

On July 31 the Dodgers traded Roberts to the Red Sox for fellow outfielder Henri Stanley (whose pro career peaked at Triple A). Not surprisingly, it was reported that Boston wanted to obtain Roberts to improve their fielding and add speed. Though Roberts had missed three weeks on May after pulling a hamstring, he was expected to allow for some healing of starting center fielder Johnny Damon’s nagging injuries. “It’s great to have Dave around so this old, broken-down body can get a day off every now and then,” Damon said, adding that they’d played together “on Team Florida years ago. He’s a good player with speed who makes things happen on the basepaths.”55

Before 2005’s regular season began, Roberts revealed how he and Tricia reacted upon learning by phone that he had been traded by the Dodgers. “It was a bad day,” she said. “At the time we thought it was the worst thing that could have happened.” Complicating matters was the fact that Tricia was in the final weeks of pregnancy with their second child.56 Emmerson Roberts, who often goes by Emme for short, was born at a Boston hospital on September 19. Her father skipped that afternoon’s game in New York and was in time to witness the birth.57

Roberts played his first game for Boston on August 3, and over the next two months got into 45 games. His batting average was little better than in 2003, though his slugging percentage of .442 over those two months was his highest in the majors. He was on Boston’s roster for the ALDS against the Anaheim Angels, but only entered the second of those three games, solely as a pinch-runner, and was forced out at second base on a grounder to short by Damon.

That set the scene for the American League Championship Series against the Yankees. On October 17, 2004, the Red Sox began play trailing three games to none, and entering the bottom of the ninth inning the score was Yankees 4, Red Sox 3. Future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera was on the pitcher’s mound, charged with preserving that lead. The first Boston batter he faced was Kevin Millar. Red Sox manager Terry Francona maintains that moments earlier he went down in the tunnel to tell Roberts that “Millar is going to get on and you’re going to steal.”58 After Millar drew a walk, he immediately headed to the dugout and exchanged a quick gesture while passing Roberts. “No words were necessary,” Millar said. “It’s not like I was about to give him baserunning advice.”59

Even a decade later, for the book Don’t Let Us Win Tonight: An Oral History of the 2004 Boston Red Sox’s Impossible Playoff Run (from which Francona’s and Millar’s quotes above are excerpted), Roberts found it difficult to describe how he felt in that moment. “I can’t tell you how many emotions went through me,” he said. “To be honest, the fear of being the goat definitely went through my mind because I hadn’t played in 10 days and didn’t feel fresh.”60 One specific thought was a conversation on a Florida field in 2002. “Maury Wills told me that at some point in my career there will be an opportunity for me to steal a base, a big base, and everyone in the ballpark knows I’m going to steal, and I can’t be afraid to steal that base,” Roberts added.61

Roberts recalled feeling “really calmed” after Rivera’s second pickoff attempt, and was glad Rivera hadn’t begun with a quick-pitch to batter Bill Mueller. First-base coach Lynn Jones and Roberts seemed of like mind. “There was no doubt the pickoff throws heightened his senses,” said Jones, who added, “They helped take those jitters away. He kept moving out there a little bit further, and we’re talking about inches, but when you’re out there that far, holy smokes. He’s way out there.”62

After Rivera’s third consecutive throw over to first, Roberts decided to go at the next sign of any meaningful movement by the pitcher. Roberts said the chest-high, outside pitch to Mueller wasn’t a pitchout but functioned as one for catcher Jorge Posada.63 One sportswriter succinctly summarized what happened next that night and in the days afterward:

Mueller would single up the middle past a sprawling Rivera to score Roberts and tie the game. [David] Ortiz would hit a game-winning home run in the 12th inning. Less than 24 hours later, Millar again would walk and Roberts again would pinch run, this time participating in a less-remembered hit-and-run to reach third base and eventually score a Game 5-tying run on Jason] Varitek’s sacrifice fly off Rivera. And Ortiz would hit a game-winning single in the 14th inning.

The Red Sox inconceivably would become the first team to climb out of an 0-3 playoff-series hole, would end the franchise’s 86-year championship drought, would become an exemplary sum of unconquerable parts large and small.64

Roberts didn’t get to play in the 2004 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, but that apparently made no difference to the legend he’d become. “For his singular contribution, Dave Roberts has been practically canonized in this town,” Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe wrote seven years later. “No comparable Boston sports hero stakes his claim to eternal fan gratitude on the basis of one act that compassed about four seconds, give or take.”65

On December 20, 2004, Roberts was sent to the team that played where he grew up. The Red Sox dealt him to the San Diego Padres for fellow major leaguers Jay Payton and Ramón Vázquez, future major leaguer David Pauley, and cash. Roberts responded by having his best two-year stint in the majors in 2005 and 2006. He hit .275 in 2005 and then followed that up by batting .293, easily his highest mark during any of his full seasons in the majors. In 2006 he tied Tony Gwynn for most triples in a season by a Padre, with 13.66

After both of those regular seasons Roberts experienced a National League Division Series against the Cardinals. He played in all three of the 2005 games and all four of the 2006 games. Though he hit only .222 in the Padres’ 2005 NLDS, he did swat a homer at home, in the seventh inning of the final game. In the Padres’ 2006 NLDS, he went 7-for-16 for an impressive .438 batting average. That concluded his postseason experience as a player.

On December 2, 2006, Roberts took advantage of free agency by signing a three-year, $18 million contract with the San Francisco Giants.67 He batted .260 in 114 games for the Giants in 2007 but plunged to .224 in just 52 games the next season. Barely a week into April, he went on the disabled list, and didn’t play for the Giants again until July 23, because he ultimately needed knee surgery, this time on his left knee.68 The final game of his career as a player was on September 28, 2008, which was the season finale for the Giants, hosting the Dodgers. He singled as a pinch-hitter, and soon scored what turned out to be the winning run. On March 5, 2009, Roberts was released by the Giants.69

Within two months, Roberts was hired by the New England Sports Network as an in-studio analyst for Red Sox broadcasts.70 Late that same year, one Boston Globe sportswriter summed up Roberts’ performance across the season. “Roberts was almost too friendly, to the point where he was either reluctant to or incapable of criticizing players who had recently been his peers,” Chad Finn wrote. “And he maintained many of the same verbal tics at the end that he had at the beginning, such as the habit of saying ‘right there’ or ‘great’ when analyzing a replay. In the end, he proved how difficult the transition to television really is.”71

On December 7, 2009, Roberts was hired by the Padres as a special assistant for baseball operations.72 One of his assignments during the subsequent spring training was to advise players how to read pitchers and get better jumps on stolen-base attempts.73 About a week into May the Padres were leading the National League in steals, with a success rate above 80 percent, and Roberts received some of the credit.74

In May of 2010, Roberts announced that he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a kind of cancer. By the time he went public, he’d already had two rounds of chemotherapy.75 In September he was found to be cancer-free, and on June 20, 2011, that was confirmed by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He happened to be in town with the visiting Padres, for whom he’d switched to first-base coach shortly after the 2010 season. Fans at Fenway Park gave him a rousing ovation.76

After three seasons as first-base coach, on November 18, 2013, Roberts was promoted to bench coach for Padres manager Bud Black. He served in that secondary role for the 2014 and 2015 seasons, and even managed the Padres one game, on June 15, 2015, after Black left that role.77 The Padres lost at home to Oakland, 9-1.

Around Halloween of 2015, Roberts was interviewed by the Dodgers to fill their managerial vacancy, and he “aced” it, according to Los Angeles Times sportswriter Bill Plaschke, who added that Roberts had apparently become the front-runner for the position. Plaschke endorsed that course of action fervently.78 David Ray Roberts was announced as the Dodgers’ new manager on November 23, 2015,79 and he still held that job through 2023.

It wouldn’t be difficult to double the length of this biography by cataloging the many insightful comments Roberts has offered in that high-profile role and by describing the countless ways he made and makes a difference as Dodgers manager, game to game, month to month, and season to season. Much more challenging is paring down a list of his highlights as a manager, but that’s one of the assets of franchise media guides.

Roberts became the 32nd manager in the history of the franchise and just the 10th since the move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles for the 1958 season. He also became the Dodgers’ first minority manager and the fourth to have both played for and later managed Los Angeles. His first Opening Day as manager was against the Padres on April 4, 2016, and the Dodgers’ 15-0 cakewalk was the largest margin of victory in any Opening Day shutout in major-league history. After winning the NL’s West Division in 2016, he was named NL Manager of the Year. The award, which was initiated in 1983, had gone to a first-year manager only five times before Roberts. During his second season, the Dodgers had a stretch where they won a staggering 43 of 50 games, which hadn’t happened since the 1912 New York Giants. His 195 wins across the 2016 and 2017 regular seasons are the fifth most by any manager in his first two years.80

When the Dodgers qualified for the playoffs in 2021, Roberts became the first major-league manager to lead his team to the postseason in his first six full seasons with that franchise. He extended that record in 2022 when the Dodgers won 111 games, a franchise record, In establishing that, he exceeded his own record of 106 wins, which he set in 2019 and tied in 2021. The Dodgers have captured three NL pennants under Roberts and won the 2020 World Series. Despite the Dodgers’ frequent successes in recent decades, it can be easy for even the oldest fans to forget that Roberts became only the third manager in franchise history to achieve that ultimate championship.81

Roberts’ father only lived long enough to experience his son’s 2016 successes. Waymon Roberts died shortly before Opening Day 2017, on March 17, at the age of 68.82 He is buried at Eternal Hills Memorial Park in Oceanside, California. His gravestone notes that he received the Good Conduct Medal during his time in the Marine Corps.83

About half a year later, Dave Roberts admitted that his father talked him out of quitting baseball after the 1995 season, his second in the minor leagues. Though he had made the Florida State League all-star team, for 1996 the Tigers sent him to yet another Class-A team, the Visalia Oaks, which was considered a destination for marginal prospects. It helped that Waymon was less than six hours away by car.84 Fans of the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, among innumerable other baseball enthusiasts, certainly remain very glad Dave Roberts didn’t choose a different career before the turn of the century.

Last revised: April 26, 2024

Sources

Except where otherwise noted, information about Roberts’ personal life and managerial accomplishments is from the 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers Media Guide (see Note 78). The primary source for his statistics and individual game information as a player, including during postseasons, is baseball-reference.com.

Notes

1 Bruce Jenkins, “Bochy’s Crew Has the Edge over L.A.,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 14, 2016: B1, B3.

2 Diamond Leung, “Warriors One Win away from NBA Finals,” Sacramento Bee, May 25, 2015: B6, B10.

3 Dave Roberts’ completed Howe Sportsdata International questionnaire dated September 1, 1994 (accessible via ancestry.com). See also Eiko Roberts’ 1991 naturalization paperwork and the Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997, accessible via genealogical websites, plus Waymon’s findagrave.com entry, especially the gravestone photograph.

4 California Birth Index, 1905-1995, accessible via genealogical websites. A distinguishing detail in this index is the mother’s maiden name.

5 Billy Witz, “Dodgers’ New Manager Reflects on Team’s Ties to Breaking Barriers,” New York Times, December 2, 2015: B13. Andy McCullough, “Unifying Dodgers Is His Purpose,” Los Angeles Times, February 14, 2016: A1, A16, A17.

6 Bill and Jean Rath, “Sports Letters,” North County Times (Oceanside, California), April 9, 2003: C-4.

7 For example, see “Youth Basketball,” Escondido (California) Times-Advocate, January 24: 1985: C6. One of Roberts’ teammates was Junior Moi, with whom he would later play Pony League baseball and high-school sports.

8 “Youth Track and Field,” Escondido Times-Advocate, April 14, 1985: D4.

9 “Vista Stars Stopped in Ramona,” Escondido Times-Advocate, July 25, 1985: D4. Junior Moi was also on this team, which adds credence to the presumption that it was the same David Roberts on those teams.

10 “Track and Field,” Escondido Times-Advocate, May 15, 1986: D4.

11 John Schlegel, “Rivalry to Replace Jorgensen Will Have to Wait,” Solana Beach (California) Blade-Citizen, March 15, 1990: C-4.

12 “Sport About Wins Vista Pony,” Escondido Times-Advocate, June 26, 1986: D4.

13 Jeff Savage, “The Long Wait Is Almost Over for Quarterback of Longhorns,” San Diego Tribune, December 7, 1989: D-6.

14 J.P. Hoornstra, “How New Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts Emerged as a Leader at Every Stop,” Los Angeles Daily News, November 25, 2015, accessible at https://www.dailynews.com/2015/11/25/how-new-dodgers-manager-dave-roberts-emerged-as-a-leader-at-every-stop/.

15 Steve Beatty, “Home on the Ranch,” Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1987: Part III, 11, 13.

16 For example, see “Pollard Leads Torrey Pines to Rout,” Los Angeles Times, December 6, 1987: III, 12.

17 “1988 Spring All-League Selections,” Escondido Times-Advocate, June 5, 1988: D2.

18 Terry Monahan, “Longhorns Seek Winning Tradition,” Escondido Times-Advocate, September 3, 1988: Football 1988 section, 8, 14.

19 John Maffei, “Racing Through Adversity,” North County Times (Escondido, California), May 13, 1996: C-1. Andy McCullough, “Unifying Dodgers Is His Purpose,” Los Angeles Times, February 14, 2016: A1, A16, A17.

20 Hoornstra.

21 Maffei, C-1.

22 Dave Roberts’ completed Howe Sportsdata International questionnaire dated September 1, 1994 (accessible via ancestry.com).

23 “San Diego Day in Sports,” Los Angeles Times, June 21, 1990: C13A.

24 Andy McCullough,” Unifying Dodgers Is His Purpose.”

25 Mike Leary, UCLA Baseball 2014 Media Guide: 99, accessible at https://ucla_ftp.sidearmsports.com/pdf/2014BaseballFullGuide.pdf. See page 73 for Roberts’ seasonal stats with UCLA. His UCLA stolen-base records hadn’t been eclipsed through at least 2013, as indicated on page 104.

26 Maffei, C-6. On this page, UCLA coach Gary Adams said Roberts wasn’t drafted in 1993, at the end of his third year, but Adams apparently meant that Roberts didn’t sign then. See other text herein quoting Adams about the June 1993 amateur draft.

27 Dave Roberts’ Howe Sportsdata International questionnaire.

28 “NCAA Tournament,” Jackson (Mississippi) Clarion-Ledger, May 25, 1992: 2C.

29 Chris Assenheimer, “Managers Reminisce about Their Playing Time in Cleveland,” Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle-Telegram, July 10, 2019: B4.

30 Hoornstra. Though this article provided several insightful quotations, it incorrectly added that Roberts was drafted by Cleveland in the 28th round of the 1994 draft, but that second time he was drafted by Detroit.

31 Maffei, C-6.

32 McCullough, A17.

33 Steve Scholfield, “David Roberts Has His Priorities Straight,” Solana Beach Blade-Citizen, September 9, 1994: C-1, C-2. In contrast to many other sources, Scholfield reported Roberts’ bonus as $1,500 rather than $1,000.

34 Dave Roberts’ Howe Sportsdata International questionnaire.

35 “Minor Leagues,” Philadelphia Daily News, June 17, 1994: 134.

36 Scholfield, C-2.

37 “Tigers’ Affiliates,” Detroit Free Press, June 29, 1994: 9C.

38 Jim Riggs, “’After Midnight’ Was Theme of Jammers’ 17-Inning Win,” Jamestown (New York) Post Journal, June 29, 1994: 21. It wasn’t clear from the box score when Roberts might’ve entered the game, but Riggs did allude to a pinch-runner helping to propel a crucial four-run rally in the eighth inning.

39 “Pittsfield Mets Rained Out, Will Play 2 Games Tonight,” Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), June 30, 1994: C1.

40 “Mets, 6-1,” Berkshire Eagle, July 1, 1994: C2.

41 “Tigers’ Minor League Affiliates,” Detroit Free Press, July 13, 1994: 7C.

42 See the back of Roberts’ 1999 Bowman baseball card, number 392.

43 Scholfield, C-2. This article provided her surname, and in it Roberts indicated how long they’d been in a relationship. Their wedding date was specified by the same sportswriter late that decade. See Steve Scholfield, “Roberts to Make His Point,” North County Times, November 7, 1999: C-1.

44 Gene Guidi, “Worrell for Berroa; Anderson Coming,” Detroit Free Press, June 25, 1988: 7C.

45 Scholfield, “Roberts to Make His Point.”

46 “Aeros Notes,” Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, July 5, 1999: C6.

47 Steve Scholfield, “Roberts’ Great Year Continues,” North County Times, August 10,1999: C-1, C-5.

48 “Roberts’ Great Year Continues.” Roberts was not on the Team USA roster in the 2000 Olympics – see https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/2000_Olympics_(Rosters)#United_States.

49 Bill Chastain, “Worth the Wade,” Tampa Tribune, August 8, 1999: sports, 1, 14. This article incorrectly stated that Roberts’ first hit in the majors was in the fourth inning; that was when he logged his second hit of the game. For detailed stats about this game, see https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TBA/TBA199908070.shtml.

50 See https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=robert001col and https://lmulions.com/sports/baseball/roster/cole-roberts/12072.

51 “RBV Grad Roberts Traded to Dodgers,” North County Times, December 22, 2001: C-5.

52 San Diego Padres Communications Department, 2011 San Diego Padres Media Guide, 35.

53 See the back of Roberts’ 2003 Topps baseball card, number 544.

54 See the back of Roberts’ 2004 Topps Heritage baseball card, number 368.

55 Nick Cafardo, “Glove at First Sight: Newcomers Can Field,” Boston Globe, August 1, 2004: C7. For information about Stanley’s minor-league career, see https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=stanle001hen.

56 Chuck Culpepper, “Stolen Moment,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), March 6, 2005: B8.

57 Peter May, “Wife’s Surgery Sends Cabrera on Home Run,” Boston Globe, September 21, 2004: F5.

58 Four Days in October (ESPN Films 30 for 30), Major League Baseball Productions, 2010.

59 Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin, Don’t Let Us Win Tonight: An Oral History of the 2004 Boston Red Sox’s Impossible Playoff Run (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2014), 126.

60 Wood and Nowlin, 127.

61 Wood and Nowlin, 127.

62 Wood and Nowlin, 128.

63 Wood and Nowlin, 129.

64 Culpepper, B13.

65 Bob Ryan, “Stolen Glory in ’04,” Boston Globe, October 14, 2011: C1.

66 San Diego Padres Communications Department, 2011 San Diego Padres Media Guide, 35.

67 Andrew Baggarly, “Giants Fill a Need for Speed, Adding Roberts,” Oakland Tribune, December 2, 2006: Sports, 8.

68 “Giants Place Roberts on DL,” San Francisco Examiner, April 9, 2008: A24. Janie McCauley, “Giants Still Alive in NL West,” San Francisco Examiner, July 17, 2008: A39.

69 Andrew Baggarly, “Giants Swallow Pride, Roberts’ $6.5M Contract,” Oakland Tribune, March 5, 2009: Sports, 1-2.

70 Chad Finn, “NESN’s Edwards Man of His Words,” Boston Globe, May 1, 2009: C9.

71 Chad Finn, “Hitting the Ground Running,” Boston Globe, December 11, 2009: C3.

72 Peter Abraham, “Relationship No Longer Dicey,” Boston Globe, December 8, 2009: C6.

73 Manny Navarro, “Question of the Week,” Miami Herald, April 25, 2010: 6D.

74 John Shea, “Padres Finally a Fit for Petco,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 9, 2010: B6.

75 Nick Cafardo, “Roberts Won’t Run from This,” Boston Globe, May 4, 2010: C2.

76 Michael Vega, “Rizzo Finally Makes His Debut at Fenway,” Boston Globe, June 21, 2011: C2. See also San Diego Padres Communications Department, 2011 San Diego Padres Media Guide, 35.

77 San Diego Padres Communications Department, 2011 San Diego Padres Media Guide, 35. 2018 Los Angeles Dodgers Guide, 16.

78 Bill Plaschke, “Authority Figures,” Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2015: D1, D7.

79 Dylan Hernandez, “Roberts’ Story Is Human Interest,” Los Angeles Times, November 24, 2015: D1, D7.

80 2018 Los Angeles Dodgers Guide, 16.

81 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers Media Guide, 24.

82 Andy McCullough, “Kershaw Takes Long View after Three-Homer Outing,” Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2017: D10.

83 See https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/182341718/waymon-dewitt-roberts.

84 Steve Wulf, “Roberts’ return to L.A. ‘was meant to be,’” ESPN.com, October 9, 2017, accessible at https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20914762/los-angeles-dodgers-manager-dave-roberts-took-long-road-back-home-la. This article offered several familial anecdotes.